Yakima Valley Conference Of Government’s Prioritization ProcessCooperation and collaboration

Larry Mattson, YVCOG Executive DirectorJune 2016

YVCOG – Nationally Recognized for Prioritization Process Active Participation from Technical Advisory Committee

To set timeframe To determine $$ availability To align objective measures with application materials

Supportive Policy Board To track successes and challenges To ensure regional equity

Three Federal Funding ‘Buckets’

We use the same prioritization process for:

Surface Transportation Block Grant (formerly STP)

Surface Transportation Block Grant – Set aside (formerly TAP)

Congestion Mitigation Air Quality

Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality (CMAQ)

YVCOG is currently soliciting MPO members for a 4-year CMAQ Call for Projects.

Action Triggered

Allocations trickle down on February 1, 2016 from FAST Act passage

Uncommitted CMAQ funding in the upcoming 2017-2020 MTIP Development

Typical Process (CMAQ Call for Projects)1. Allocation = Funds Available2. Staff initiates Call for Projects3. Staff and Sub-committee develop application packet4. Packet reviewed & approved by TAC, Policy Board5. Applications received, staff calculates benefits6. Applications reviewed & ranked by separate sub-committee7. Awardees acknowledge commitment

Staff Proposes a Call for Projects Staff prepares proposal by researching:

Available funding through 2020 FAST Act interpretations for potential changes Status of previous Call for Projects Previous materials developed Potential timeline for Call for Projects

Staff pursues Policy Board approval to begin work on a Call for Projects and requests for TAC to convene a sub-committee

Application Packet Development

Selection criteria and scoring Able to tailor and weight scoring for regional emphasis

Timeline for Call Application edits for criteria alignment Announcement Memo

This process typically accomplished in one sub-committeework session.

Application Packet Approval Process

Staff distributes previous materials Sub-committee reviews & edits for current Call Full Technical Advisory Committee recommends to the Policy Board Policy Board approves Call

This process customarily accomplished between Policy Board approving work to be pursued and following Policy Board meeting.

Staff Receives Applications and Calculates Benefits Staff performs or coordinates project evaluations:

Project sponsors provide information for evaluation Staff performs spreadsheet analysis – or - Staff coordinates Department of Ecology modeling through local Air Quality Control

Authority Staff sends calculations back to project sponsors to incorporate into the application Project Sponsors also allowed to perform calculations for benefits independently

All applications received are reviewed by another TAC sub-committee for evaluation and ranking purposes.

Awardee is Required to Acknowledge $$ Commitment As part of the award process:

Project sponsors are required to acknowledge time and funding commitment as awarded

Staff maintains a Project Progress Report shared at monthly TAC meetings Each project sponsor is required to keep the TAC apprised of changes in their

project through completion Project sponsors have had to return STP funding to the MPO for redistribution due

to not meeting obligation deadlines or losing non-federal matching requirement Our prioritized project list allows us to use redistributed funding from other

MPOs across the state of Washington.

2017-2020 CMAQ Call for ProjectsStaff started analysis – February 2, 2016

Call for Projects announced – March 25, 2016

Application due – June 30, 2016

Anticipate prioritization list approval – July 18, 2016

Top project eligible for funding in 2017.

Yakima Valley Conference of Governments (YVCOG)Larry Mattson, Executive Directorp. (509) 574-1550e. larry.mattson@yvcog.orgw. www.yvcog.org